How Do You Correctly Handle the Destruction of Defective Products?

From time to time, all manufacturers face the challenge of having to handle defective, returned, or expired products. This issue needs to be handled in the most ecological and economical way, whilst still protecting the the manufacturer's brand. 

Why Is Proper Destruction of Defective Products Important?

Manufacturers need to take full responsibility for the product destruction. If product destruction is not handled properly, they run several risks. Products that are taken to the landfill before being fully destroyed can still end up being either resold or utilized illegally. Since these products are inferior to the normal quality of the manufacturer's products, this can cause a lot of damage on the manufacturer's brand. 

Products that are recalled from the market due to being unsafe for the consumer to use, also need to be properly destroyed. If the products end up in the hands of consumers anyway, the manufacturer will be held liable, and it will cause damage to the brand. 

This is why it is important to find a good solution to ensure that your defective or expired products are destroyed, in a way, that prevents them from being sold or used.

Methods to Ensure Complete and Correct Destruction of Failed Production

Shred or crush your defective products

By shredding or crushing the failed or expired production it is ensured that the products can no longer be sold or used. However, after the shredding or crushing the manufacturer still needs to dispose of the waste, so the handling of the defective products does not end here. 

Incinerate your defective products 

Defective products can be sent directly to incineration. However, with this method the entire product is wasted, and nothing is being recycled. If the products contain any liquids, it will also be a costly matter to send them to incineration, as the burning value is very low. 

Recycle your defective products

Often, if the defective products are separated into the individual components they originally consists of, the components can be recycled. For example, if you separate the content and the packaging from mislabelled or expired food, drinks or cosmetics, the packaging can enter a recycling cycle and the food or drink can be used either for animal feed or in the production of biogas.

What to Account for When Handling the Destruction of Faulty Production

When choosing how to handle the destruction of defective products in the most economical and ecological way, there are several factors to consider. 
If you choose to crush or shred the products you will need some equipment for this, either on-site or you will have to transport the material to a crusher or shredder. If you want to separate and reuse the individual components of the products, you will also need access to equipment that can efficiently help you with this process. 

Another factor to account for is the manpower required to handle the destruction and whether it makes sense to do the destruction manually or with machinery. 

Finally, you need to consider the transportation costs of the products, before and after the destruction. 

Make the Most Out of Your Faulty Production with RUNI

The RUNI SK240 or SK370 for separating liquids from solids can help manufacturers with the destruction of products, that for any reason cannot be sold. 
The RUNI machines for separation create two waste streams in a continuous flow: one for solids and one for liquids. This ensures that both waste streams can be reused. The compacted solid packaging can be sent to recycling and the liquid content can be collected and sold for animal feed or used for the production of biogas.
In this way, the RUNI machines help the manufacturer Turn waste to value! If the packaging or content does not qualify for recycling, the separation of the solids from the liquids still ensure lower costs for both transportation and incineration of the dry packaging.

If you need any further information, or do you have any questions about the RUNI machines, please fill out the form below. We will contact you as soon as possible.